Take 190 West

I was glad to be invited to the inaugural Take 190 West arts festival in Killeen, Texas, which took place this past weekend. I enjoyed meeting and talking with the organizers and other participants, including bookseller (and chef de cuisine) Pat Anderson and illustrator (and soon to be author) Don Tate, whose latest book, Ron’s Big Mission, is its own kind of astronaut story: it tells how future space shuttle astronaut Ron McNair, as a boy, by demanding the right to check out books, integrated his hometown library. It was also great to meet and rub shoulders with Keith Graves, Clare Dunkle, David Davis, Jan Peck, Jackie Mills, Xavier Garza, Nathan Jensen, Christina Strain, Rod Espinoza, and the other people whose names I’m forgetting right now. Thanks, Killeen, for the invitation!